from the ragamuffin gospel, by brennan manning

the way we are with each other is the truest test of our faith. how i treat a brother or sister from day to day, how i react to the sin-scarred wino on the street, how i respond to interruptions from people i dislike, how i deal with normal people in their normal confusion on a normal day may be a better indication of my reverence for life that the antiabortion sticker on the bumper of my car.

we are not pro-life simply because we are warding off death. we are pro-life to the extent that we are men and women for others, all others; to the extent that no human flesh is stranger to us; to the extent that we can touch the hand of another in love; to the extent that for us there are no "others."

today the danger of the pro-life position, which i vigorously support, is that it can be frighteningly selective. the rights of the unborn and the dignity of the age-worn are pieces of the same pro-life fabric. we weep at the unjustified destruction of the unborn. did we also weep when the evenoing news reported from arkansas that a black family had been shotgunned out of a white neighborhood?

one morning i experienced a horrifying hour. i tried to remember how often between 1941 and 1988 i wept for a german or japanese, a north korean or north vietnamese, a sandinista or cuban. i could not remember one. then i wept, not for them, but for myself.

when we laud life and blast abortionists, our credibility as christians is questionable. on one hand we proclaim the love and anguish, the pain and joy that goes into fashioning a single child. we proclaim how precious life is to God and should be to us. on the other hand, when it is the enemy that shrieks to heaven with his flesh is flames, we do not weep, we are not shamed; we call for more.

the sensitive jew remembers the middle ages-every ghetto structured by christians, every forced baptism, every good friday pogrom, every portrait of shylock exacting his pound of flesh, every identifying dress or hat or badge, every death for conscience's sake, every back turned or shoulder shrugged, every sneer and slap and curse.

with their tragic history as background, it is not surprising that many jews are unimpressed with our anti-abortion stance and our arguments for the sacredness of human life. for they still hear cries of 'christ-killer!' the survivors of auschwitz and dachau still feel lashes on their backs; they still see images of human soap, still taste hunger, still smell gas. the history of judaism is a story of caring: they are not sure we care for them.

the pro-life position is a seamless garment of reverence for the unborn and the age-worn, for the enemy, the jew, and the quality of life of all people. otherwise, it is paste jewelry and sawdust hot dogs.